The Word Works!: THE RHEMA OF GOD I

We learn and do research as the Spirit of God gives revelation on the subject we’re looking into. The rhema of God has been one of the most debated and highly criticized; some believe it while others do not. Before proceeding, please do not forget that the devil’s always fighting against revelation knowledge because he never wants the believer to come to his true self. No matter what the devil does or is doing, we’ll never give up on spreading the word of knowledge till we all come to the unity of faith.

There are so many wonderful hidden truths in our walk with God, but we must come to Him with the faith of a child (Matthew 18:3-4) – not through intelligence, religious ritual, or human wisdom – but simply by accepting His word and His promises as children, believing and trusting them. Isn’t it even wonderful and beautiful that the Lord chose this humble way to reveal Himself? In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in Him dwells all fullness of the Godhead bodily and we are complete in Him, Who is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:3, 9, 10).

Why is the Bible telling us this?” “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:4, 8). I read one of Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin’s books where he stated that, there was a time he became so concerned for not having enough signs following his ministry in the last church he pastored. He did pray for days addressing this issue to the Lord. God answered him: “…all you have to do is preach the Word and I’ll do it. If you’ll preach the Word, the signs will follow. If the signs aren’t following, then you’re not preaching the Word.”

The question is, “What had Pastor Hagin been preaching?” He began to examine his sermons and realized that he was preaching about 60 percent Word, 30 percent tradition, and 10 percent unbelief. He began to correct things and the signs manifested! The more Word he preached, the more signs he had. You’ve got to be careful about the things you read and listen to, because they’ll go a long way to affect what becomes of you. Do we really know what it means to be in Christ and Christ in you? This is big! God’s Word says, “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

This is the reason why some Christians seem to prosper in the things of God than others. Some believers have chosen to lay hold and claim what belongs to them. Notice scripture didn’t say, “they which receive the abundance of grace” – rather, it says, “they which receive abundance of grace” shall reign in life. It didn’t use the definite article “the” because the grace of God is immeasurable, it’s infinite! How much of it you take will determine the level of the glory of God you can function in. This is what marks the difference among believers – the matured and babes. That’s why we’re admonished to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

The Apostle Peter gives an exhortation: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2). Growing in grace is dependent on the knowledge you have; it’s imperative that you come to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better. It’s interesting to note that grace and peace go together. The more grace you have, the more peace you can enjoy. The word translated “knowledge” in the verse above is the Greek word “epignosis” {ep-ig’-no-sis} (Strong’s #1922) and it means “precise and correct knowledge; full knowledge that transcends mere awareness; an esoteric knowledge – a discernment or full understanding of God and of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ”.

Recognize, perceive, and become fully acquainted with God and His living Word – Jesus Christ – and you’ll walk in ever-increasing grace. There’re Christians who never have peace in their lives for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). We need to leave what we think and cling to the facts of the Word – “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7), so we should be careful about how we use it. We have a serious problem when we don’t get our minds to align with the Word of God (Romans 12:2).

We’ve made Jesus the Lord of our lives and are born again, so what next? Many of us have been born again for so many years but how much knowledge have we acquired ever since we gave our lives to Christ? Have we made it a point to grow or are we waiting for Christ to appear someday to “snatch” us into heaven? These are questions we should be asking ourselves. The Word says that God “…will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). This should awaken us to the fact that God doesn’t want us remain the same year-in-year-out. He wants us to grow and take charge! This is where God wants to see us.

“But remember this, that if a father dies and leaves great wealth for his little son, that child is not much better off than a slave until he grows up, even though he actually owns everything his father had. He has to do what his guardians and managers tell him to until he reaches whatever age his father set. And that is the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to Jewish laws and rituals, for we thought they could save us. But when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew, to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own sons.

And because we are his sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, so now we can rightly speak of God as our dear Father. Now we are no longer slaves but God's own sons. And since we are his sons, everything he has belongs to us, for that is the way God planned” (Galatians 4:1-7, TLB). If this is our true identity as Christians, why is it that some live as though they are beggars? Why do they allow the things of the world to intimidate them? Some live like they are slaves. Why? If you don’t get matured as a believer, then people will continue to dictate to you until you come to maturity. This is what the scripture is telling us about. Paul said to the Corinthians, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1). Let not this be you, for you can grow with the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2).

The problem is not your current state, it’s about what you know. There is no situation too big enough to hold you down when you’re equipped with knowledge. The devil never wants us to grow but he just can’t stop us from growing when we want to. You’ve got to build your faith strong with the Word because the evil day will come (Ephesians 6:13). That day is not a problem at all, but it’s what you choose to do in such a day that matters. I know many have given up on God because they’re going through something in one way or the other, but hey, I have good news for you. Don’t pack your bags yet! There’s hope for you in Christ.

Simply put, “Rhema is the spoken Word”, and that’s where my domain name came from. We read in Hebrews 11:3: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” God called the world into existence, what we see created by what we do not see. There are also some significant words in this verse of scripture, which will help us understand what the Word of God is telling us here. The first word is “worlds”; notice that it's in its plural form. “Worlds” as translated in the scripture above is the Greek word “aion” {ahee-ohn'}. This refers to the word, “age” or “course” (Strong’s #165).

Aion is the structure and administration of your life; how things go with you from day to day, including how they affect your hopes and aspirations. It is the world's system, with respect to the socio-economic structures and environmental management of a period in human history, including its arts and sciences. For instance we know there were so many prophecies concerning Jesus. And He came fulfilling every bit of them and left nothing undone. We can say here that ever before Jesus came, His aion was already framed by the prophets of old.

The second word is “framed”. The Greek word for it in the verse of scripture above is “katartizo” {kat-ar-tid'-zo} (Strong’s #2675). Most English translations of the Bible used the terms “made” or “created”, to translate the word “framed”. This is really not what the Spirit of God is communicating to us. The word “katartizo” is used instead to mean “to repair”, “to mend”, “to recomplete”, “to put in order”, “to fit out”, or “to perfect”. A frame is not the whole structure, but the underlying structure of a concept or a system, like your skeletal frame. It forms the background and the supporting structure.

So when scripture says that through faith we understand that the aions were framed by the Word of God, it means that the skeletal structures of the times have been put in place. God produced that skeletal structure from His spoken Word; His rhema. Rhema is specific. It is directed to a person, place or thing, and for a particular reason at a particular time. It is called the word of faith. It is the word of the now; the creative word. Reading the whole verse in context, it will correctly read; “Through faith we understand that the 'aions' were put in order, or restored, or mended, or perfected or framed by the 'rhema' of God…”

The Word of God as thought and truth, directed and personalized to you is rhema. What do I mean by this? Maybe you’re having some challenges in your health, and you hear that by Jesus’ stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). What you do is this – you say, “By the stripes of the Lord Jesus, I was healed, and I remain healed today!” Testify to people that you’re healed. Do not say negative things to people when they ask about your health. Tell them, “I’m strong and healthy in Jesus’ Name!” They may think something is wrong with you but what are you looking at? Whose report are you believing? Is it that of men or God?

The Word of God on the pages of your Bible is “logos” {log’-os} (Strong’s #3056). For instance we read from John 1:1 that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In all instances here “word” is the Greek word “logos”. God is the Word, and He had the Word with and in Him. For instance, God had an idea about creating the world. Before creation, He already had in Him what and how the world should look like, where the sun, stars, waters, moon, plants, land and everything should be. I love how the Amplified translates Genesis 1:2: “The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.”

Before God did anything the Bible lets us know that the world was a chaotic mass, and the Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters. As God moved, He took thoughts on how to put things right. Even though He might have been happy with what He had envisioned and had in Him, nothing happened until He spoke. He had the beauty of the world in Him but nothing happened. You’ll come across the phrase, “God said”, several times as you read through Genesis 1. He said this and it happened, He said that and got exactly what He said. He set everything in motion with rhema. He had logos in Him, but that couldn’t do the job until He released rhema.

You see, you can have a lot of logos in you and not know how to put it to work. Anyone can read the Bible and gain head knowledge and for most, that is all they have. Rhema is the Word of God released into our lives. It doesn’t matter whether we got it from our personal Bible studies or from pastor’s preaching - it makes no difference. If you’ll only get a hold of what the Word says concerning your situation and make a confession of it everyday, it’ll do something good to you. You may come across people who would tell you the number of scriptures they know and really not benefit from them. What is knowledge without the application of it?

God knows the potency of His Word. He said, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). God is saying that anything He says comes to pass, no matter how long it takes. One day Jesus was in Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, He left because it was late in the afternoon. Then He returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if He could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” And the disciples heard him say it. The next morning as they passed by the fig tree He had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.”

Jesus then said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:12-14, 20-24). In Isaiah 55 we see God describing the potency of His Spoken Word: “I get whatever I say!” And that’s exactly what Jesus demonstrated to His disciples.

Nothing changed about the fig tree immediately Jesus spoke to it. Even though it took time before His disciples saw anything happen, something happened spiritually. When He spoke to the tree, its roots died! We need to learn something here. No matter how long it takes to manifest the things we say, we shouldn’t give up, for we’ve killed the roots! The problem may be there, but the truth is that it’s dead. We’re to keep proclaiming the Word of Faith, the rhema of God. Jesus commended His disciples to “have faith in God.” The right translation of that phrase from the Greek should actually read: “Have the faith of God.” And what is the faith of God? He said, “Anything I say comes to pass – my rhema does not fail!”

Speak to the Mountain

Jesus said we can do same as He did. Whoever believes can speak to a mountain, command it to leave and it’ll obey. Speak to that situation. Jesus said it’ll move, even if it as big, large and tall as a mountain. He tells us to believe anything we say or pray about and we shall have them. What then is faith? “NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]” (Hebrews 11:1, AMP). I love the way the Amplified likens faith to a “title deed”. Title deed is a legal document proving that somebody is the owner of a particular house, etc. Our faith is the “legal document” that we have what we claim to have.

When someone tells you he has land or property somewhere, you wouldn’t believe him until he produced the legal documents as a proof to what he said. In the same way faith proves what we have; it doesn’t matter whether someone believes it or not. We have what we believe we have, period! We can declare we’re healed, even though the symptoms may be there. God is so kind, loving and merciful that He gave us exceedingly great and precious promises in His Word (2 Peter 1:4). How to make them a reality is dependent on us. Unfortunately, some believe they have to wait and wait until God does something. God’s done everything, and it’s our responsibility to walk in the light of them.

Oh, only if we’ll learn to speak forth the scriptures, the truth spoken on the pages of the Bible as Logos, to become rhema, the breath of God on what He has said to us. Rhema is the Word of God released into our lives, the Word for the now and present circumstance. The power of God is active in your life when you speak correspondingly with God's Word. If you want to see the power of God's Word released in your life, the first thing you must learn to do is declare the Word. Don't confess your experiences or your challenges; confess the Word of God only!